Date Format

[Guest]

I am using Access 2003
I am creating a Db in which a lot of dates are being entered. I really want
the full date - 02/20/2007 saved in case I need to do some date calculations
later on, but 2007 is a pain to type in because people of use to just putting
07 - ex: 02/20/07.

Is there a way to type 02/20/07 in a field and have it saved/appear as
02/20/2007?

I would certainly appreciate any help you can give me.
Aurora

 

[Joan Wild]

Access is very helpful (in some cases too helpful) when it comes to dates.

If you enter just the month and day into a date/time field, Access will
assume the current year. Note that the user may need to enter
dd/mm or mm/dd depending on their Regional Settings. Access uses the short
date format to interpret entries.

As to how it's displayed, this has nothing to do with how it's entered. You
can set the format property of a control on a form, or the field in the
table to whatever format you like.

I would suggest mmm/dd/yyyy That would display Feb/20/2007. Using the
3-char format for the month removes any ambiguity about the date.

Again, remember that the format does not dictate how the data gets entered.

 

[fredg]

I am using Access 2003
I am creating a Db in which a lot of dates are being entered. I really want
the full date - 02/20/2007 saved in case I need to do some date calculations
later on, but 2007 is a pain to type in because people of use to just putting
07 - ex: 02/20/07.

Is there a way to type 02/20/07 in a field and have it saved/appear as
02/20/2007?

I would certainly appreciate any help you can give me.
Aurora

Don't confuse the way a field displays the date as opposed to the
value actually stored in the field. Regardless of the field's format,
today is stored as 39133 , the number of days since 12/30/1899.
Entering 2/20/07 will store the same value as entering 2/20/2007.

Be aware, however, that if you enter a 2 digit year, 00 to 29 will be
assumed by Access to be 21st century, i.e. 2000... 2029.
If the year is entered as 30 to 99 Access will assume 20th Century,
i.e.1930 ..1999. This can cause unexpected results. A 30 year loan
written today with a due date entered as 2/20/37 will be due
2/20/1937.
You'r better off entering the 4 digit year, 2007, for accuracy.

Also, if no year is entered, i.e. 2/20/ Access will assume the current
year, so if that is what is wanted, don't enter any year.

 

[Guest]

Joan: Thank you for responding but I am not sure that I made myself clear.
I want to be able to enter "02/22/07" and have it appear as "02/22/2007".
When i try to do this I get a message - "this input is not valid for the
input mask specified for this field." What input mask should I be using?

Aurora

 

[Guest]

Fred: Thank you for responding but I am not sure that I made myself clear.
I want to be able to enter "02/22/07" and have it appear as "02/22/2007".
When i try to do this I get a message - "this input is not valid for the
input mask specified for this field." What input mask should I be using?

Aurora

 

[Joan Wild]

I'm suggesting you do away with the input mask altogether. It just gets in
the way.

The appearance of a date is determined by the format property, not an input
mask.